


Faith and Trust and Pixie Dust

by herbailiwick



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Babysitting, Established Relationship, F/M, Gen, Peter Pan - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-13
Updated: 2012-11-13
Packaged: 2017-11-18 14:00:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/561831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/herbailiwick/pseuds/herbailiwick
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>cmcross prompted: "Mollcroft. Prompt is...tattoos."</p><p>Not 100% if this is what you had in mind, but I had a mental image and couldn't get rid of it. cmcross's version of the prompt is found <a href="http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8699438/1/Say-My-Land-Is-Best">here</a>.</p><p>Rated G. Established Mollcroft, with the nieces and nephew cmcross gave her in <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/419825">The Brolly Brigade</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Faith and Trust and Pixie Dust

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cmcross](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cmcross/gifts).



When Molly heard the kids needed a place to stay for the weekend, she certainly didn't offer, much as she loved them, but she also didn't refuse when she was asked outright after her sister's other options all seemed to fall through.

"I'm so sorry," she told Mycroft on Friday morning. "I know this was supposed to be _our_ weekend."

She could hear his smile through the phone. "My dear, do you think I don't understand that family always comes first?"

She sighed in relief. "Yeah. I mean, it does."

"You're such a reliable person, Molly," he praised.

"And you're sure you're not...upset?"

"Heavens no! In fact, if it would make things any easier, I could pop by at some point. They seemed to take to me."

Molly blinked. "Oh. Sure! Yes, they did. You're like some kind of superhero to them. And to me," she admitted. He let out a surprised snort of laughter.

"Oh, is that how you see me?" he asked.

"A bit."

"I'll definitely pop by. I don't mind children, most anyway, and I've met your three before. What was it, Katie, Caleb, and Lilly?"

"Yes," Molly said, slightly surprised, but then wondering why she was surprised because Mycroft was, after all, a Holmes, and he never forgot anything. 

"I have a place nearby I can stay, just a block away. You can consider me on call. It'll be nice to look at these files in a new setting when you don't have use of me."

"I always have use for you," she teased.

"Oh, is that so?"

"Mhm." She paused. "I'm really grateful that you've taken this so well. It's such short notice, I know. I'm sorry about our weekend."

"I'm not," he said, and in his tone she heard admiration and not irritation. "Just be the best aunt you can be," he said, and that was that.

***

"Mycroft," she said embarrassedly, "I...er. It's not that I couldn't send you to do the shopping for me, if you're willing to and you aren't busy, but...."

"You'd like a break," he said gently. "I should probably take one too. And I'd rather watch children than do the shopping."

"Oh?" she asked with surprise.

"Yes. It's less...distracting, even if the children are on their worst behavior. Don't ask me to explain how my mind works," he said with a hint of humor.

"No, I mean, it's not always easy to do the shopping," admitted Molly. "They're, um." She sighed. "They're on a bit of a Peter Pan kick. All my fault."

"Are they? How interesting," he said, and there was something about the tone that suggested he was hiding an emotional reaction. Perhaps he loathed the story. 

"Yeah, sorry," she said. "Well...I'll see you in a bit, then?"

"Absolutely."

***

Molly stepped into her sitting room and frowned in confusion.

Caleb without a shirt was the first thing she noticed. He was having a sword fight with Katie, who was wearing a newsprint hat. They each had a pen in one hand and Caleb had a paper hook in the other. Caleb noticed Aunt Molly and stopped, and then Katie noticed Aunt Molly and didn't stop, giving Caleb a jab in the side. Caleb doubled over slightly. "Oi!"

Mycroft, with his back turned to Molly, was lifting up Lilly and exclaiming, "Lovely thoughts! Wonderful thoughts! The best thought you've ever had!" to the sound of her excited giggling.

Molly cleared her throat and Mycroft absolutely froze despite the continued giggling, slowly lowering an increasingly disappointed Lilly to the ground. He turned warily to look at her, pulling out a handkerchief and silently dabbing at his forehead.

She looked around the room.

"I'm sorry," he murmured. He took a quick look around too. The sitting room wasn't much worse for wear, though the pillows had gotten strewn about. "I'm sorry," he said again. "I got. I got very much carried away."

"He loves Peter Pan," Katie said helpfully. Mycroft shot her a grin, then looked back at Molly intently.

"If you want me to help clean up and to leave...?" he offered.

"No. No, don't leave," Molly said. She took a look around as well. "It...it looked like fun," she admitted, biting her lip. "I mean, they seemed safe."

"Katie poked me," Caleb complained, rubbing at his side.

"True," said Molly. "I saw that. Wait. What are you covered in?"

Mycroft cleared his throat and, going a bit pink said, "They're tattoos."

Molly raised an eyebrow. 

"Um. The nautical star, the Jerusalem cross. T-tattoos. And a pirate brand," he admitted. "I tried heavily to insist that Captain Hook probably wouldn't have any tattoos, but...to be fair, it's some of my best work," he said with a smile that faded a bit as she continued to stare at him. "It's just pen," he said clearly. "A rather nice pen, in fact," he added, holding out his hand so Caleb would return it to him. He put it back in his jacket pocket without fanfare.

"And, in his other hand," she said with interest as she looked at Caleb, "did you make that?"

"Yes. It's, er, an origami candy cane," Mycroft said a bit helplessly. "Close enough, I suppose. Couldn't get them to go for paper swords."

"He told us the pen was mightier than the sword, so we thought pens would be funnier, but they hurt more," Katie said as she pulled her hat off her head and gestured to Mycroft with it. "He made me this, too."

Mycroft looked more and more nervous, but Molly was a still struggling to wrap her head around what had happened.

"And he was helping me fly," Lilly said with excitement. "I had to tell him a lovely wonderful thought or he wouldn't do it, though. He was being pixie dust!"

An unbound smile broke out across Mycroft's somber face and he said, "It's all true. For what it's worth, I am very sorry about the tattoos and about the state of your newspaper."

"You know, everyone, I'm dating a very talented man," Molly admitted.

"If you'd like me to leave," Mycroft said quietly, "I more than understand."

"No, stay as much as you like! You're more fun than I am this weekend, I'm afraid. And I didn't just mean talented at arts and crafts."

"Oh?" he furrowed his brow.

"I mean you're a talented babysitter. If I think some lovely wonderful thoughts," she teased, "will you lift me up too?"

He laughed and relaxed. "You'd have to tell them to me first," he explained. "I'm afraid we've already set up a precedent."

"Pick her up," Caleb insisted.

"Yeah, come on," said Lilly. 

Mycroft and Molly exchanged a glance, then sighed in turn and decided it was the proper thing to do, after all that. 

"What do we say?" Mycroft said to Lilly.

"Please!" Lilly shouted.

"We'll only do it if you help with the groceries," Molly told the children. Then, as they cheered, she turned to her boyfriend and said, "Here's a lovely thought for you: If the children weren't here, I probably wouldn't have found out about your paper folding skills, or about your love for Peter Pan."

"No," he admitted with a bit of a flush again. "You likely wouldn't have."

"And I must say it's a very, very lovely thought, so, do your worst," she challenged with a quirk of her brow. Then, he lifted her up for a moment, making a ridiculous whooshing sound, and, as if by magic, she giggled and fell that much more in love.


End file.
